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Copy of a Roman denture, Europe, 1901-1930

Losing a tooth through accident, diet or infection can be very painful. False teeth were made to fill these gaps. A tooth was inserted into a metal bridge like this one with a metal pin and fitted on to the remaining teeth. The donor teeth came from animals or another person. Only wealthy people could afford this treatment. There were no specialist dentists so dentistry was one of the duties of a physician.
This object is a copy of an original found in Satricum, Latium, Italy. Latium is an ancient region of west central Italy now known as Lazio.